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Maritime Editors’ Appreciation Dinner: Night of tributes for Sambo, Adegoroye as they bow out in blaze of honour

The eyewitness reporterThe skylight of the beautiful Eko Hotels was abuzz with excitement. Its cozy ambiance was saturated with glitz and glamour.

From one of its halls came a bellow of tributes which oozed through the giant doors of the hall and blended with the serene environment of the prestigious hotel.

It was a night of tributes for Alhaji Muazu Jaji Sambo, the immediate past  Minister of Transportation, and the Minister of State, Barrister  Ademola Adewole Adegoroye.

It was a night the League of Maritime Editors decided to appreciate the short but impactful tenure of these gentlemen at the helms of affairs of the ministry.

It was a night the maritime stakeholders and Heads of the government agencies in the industry decided to say thank you to the men whose short but eventful tenure triggered a positive development in the industry.

So, on June 9th, 2023, the League of Maritime Editors organised what it called an appreciation dinner in honour of the immediate past ministers in the transportation ministry and feted them for a job well done.

It was an event that attracted the cream of the maritime industry, top government officials and members of the National Assembly.The roll call of the guests was impressive.

Boss Mustapha, the immediate past Secretary to the  Government of Federation (SGF) was represented. Mrs. Linda Ikpeazu, the immediate past Chairman, House Committee on Marine Transport graced the occasion.

Also in attendance was a full complement of the Heads of government agencies in the industry which includes Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ( NIMASA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Emmanuel Jime, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Fidet  Okhiria, the Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, the Acting Registrar of the Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN).
The event also attracted Messr Callistus Obi and Ferdinand Agu, both former NIMASA DGs.
Engineer Greg Ogbeifun led the Shipping community.

The two former Ministers, whom the night of honour was meant for, sat in their full regalia, soaking all the encomiums and eulogies showered on them.
Mrs Magdalene Ajani, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation also shared in the limelight.Chief Timothy Okorocha, the host President of the League of Maritime Editors, opened his welcome address on a sober note when he asked the august gathering to observe one-minute silence to give the last respect to two members of the maritime media confraternity, Messrs Ray Ugochukwu and Emma Adegbe, who departed to higher glory.

Thereafter, the night’s activities picked up and escalated to a high-pitched crescendo when speaker after speaker spoke glowingly of the two Ministers.
Earlier, Chief Okorocha told his audience that the maritime media decided to honour Sambo and Adegoroye for their impactful and effective leadership in the Ministry of Transportation which triggered a chain of positive achievements within so short a time in the maritime sector.
Okorocha ran through the list of achievements made under the short stint of the two men as Ministers, which Sambo fondly referred to as low-hanging fruits.
These include but not limited to the resolution of the nutty issue of the disbursement of the controversial Cabotage Vessels Financing Funds(CRFFN), the resuscitation of the jinxed Cargo Tracking Note(CTN) and other projects executed and commissioned during Sambo’s 10 -month stint as a Minister.

Okorocha said the event was meant to honour the hard work, commitment and dedication of the two former Ministers and to encourage other public officials.

He noted that in as much as journalists are critical of government officials and always ensure they are held accountable, he said journalists are also sensitive to the efficient and impactful leadership of such public servants and would not hesitate to honor such individuals.

Thereafter, in a blaze of commendations, encomiums and eulogies, the chief executive officers of the government agencies took turns to narrate their working experiences with the Ministers.Emmanuel Jime said that, initially, he and his colleagues at the Shippers’Council were skeptical about the coming of Sambo as the Minister as they feared he may be biased in his dealings with the council, given his working background at NPA and NIWA, but he revealed that the reverse was the case as the Council benefitted more from the short stint of the former Minister.

“As a matter of fact, the Shippers’ Council benefitted more from the minister as he supported us and gave us listening ears”

Jime attributed the resuscitation of the jinxed Cargo Tracking Note(CTN) to the commitment and doggedness of the Minister whom he said helped the Council to fight off the proverbial inter-agency rivalry that threatened to kill the project.

“For this, we confer on the minister the “Saurdana of Shippers’Council”  Jime said, a statement which drew friendly jabs and flaks from the Minister and Dr. Jamoh.

Both the NPA MD, NIMASA DG and NRC MD spoke in a similar appreciatory manner, each giving his personal and working relationship with Sambo whom they all chorused has listening ears and other attributes of a leader and father to whom they all had unhindered access.

“He takes me like his brother and advised me on a number of things. But when he is angry, you wouldn’t want to come across him.

“But his anger goes as quickly as it comes,” said Bello-Koko.
“Through his leadership, close supervision and guidance, NIMASA has been able to commission lots of projects which include our permanent zonal offices in Abuja, and Port Harcourt and yet-to-be commissioned Lokoja office” disclosed Jamoh.All the heads of the agencies were unanimous in their conviction that the leadership of Sambo inspired them to gain ascendency in their various areas of mandates.

“He inspired us to work harder and better”  the NRC MD disclosed.

Mrs. Uromta, the CRFFN acting Registrar said the two former ministers have inspiring personalities and admired them from a distance.But she lamented that at a time when she had the opportunity to get close to and interact with them at close quarters as the head of CRFFN, that was when their tenure expired.

She then wished, just like other heads of the agencies, that Sambo will stage a comeback to the industry as the Minister in the current dispensation.

All through this blaze of glory and honour, Sambo and Adegoroye, sat with glowing and animated faces, smiling as the torrent of encomiums and eulogies cascaded from the podium and submerged the entire guests who watched and listened with admiration as each of the agency heads tried to outdo one another in their attempt to paint the former ministers in glowing tributes.
After soaking in enough eulogies, Sambo mounted the podium and momentarily became speechless as he tried to find the right words to express his appreciation.
He said he was surprised at the amount of goodwill and quantum of eulogies he received from the appreciative industry stakeholders.
He particularly thanked the organisers of the event, the League of Maritime Editors for the honour.

Turning to them with a wide grin on his face, Sambo intoned” You guys shocked me with this reception and show of love. It is not as if I give you money but because of your love for me that made you do this, thank you very much”
Sambo expressed his deep appreciation to former President Mohammed Buhari who he said gave him the opportunity to serve.
“It was a thing of joy that barely three years after I retired from the civil service, I was called upon to come and serve my father’s land in such a high capacity as a Minister.
“It was a rare honour and privilege for me.” Sambo declared in an emotion-laden voice.
He recalled his civil service career at the NPA as a Civil Engineer and at NIWA as Area Manager and declared that he had a good working relationship with his colleagues.
He admonished his audience to forge a good relationship with people as this is an attribute that has helped his career as a civil servant and politician.
Sambo also reminisced on his political journey which culminated in his appointment as a Minister, first as a Minister of State, Works and Housing and Minister of Transportation.
“It was a rare privilege and I served as a Minister for one and half years and am going to retire a fulfilled man.
” The icing on the cake is the national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger(CON)conferred on me by former President Buhari to whom I will remain eternally grateful”
He said that the former President gave all the Ministers a free hand to perform their duties, a development which he said helped him a lot to record the quantum of achievements in the maritime industry within so short a time.
The night was capped with mixed genres of entertainment of cultural dance, poetic rendition, stand-up comedy and light music to which the two ministers and the Permanent Secretary displayed different dexterity of their dancing skills.
What a fulfilling way to cap a glorious civil service and political career.
It was a night of glitz and glamour which Sambo and Adegoroye will forever cherish and remember for a very long time.
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Analyses

The invisible toll gates:Why National Single Window is Nigeria’s ultimate economic battleground

Monday Discourse with  Ibrahim Nasiru
Walk into any market in Nigeria today, from the commercial hubs of Lagos to the roadside stalls in Yola, and ask why a bag of rice or an imported spare part costs three times what it did last year.
The typical public commentator will blame global inflation, floating currencies, or macro-economic shocks.
But those who understand logistics know the real truth lies buried under layers of paper, manual stamps, and artificial delays at our seaports.
Nigeria’s international trade is suffocating not from a lack of deep water, but from a deliberate design of convenience.
The recent operational rollout of the National Single Window (NSW) has triggered behind-the-scenes panic among Port cartels, and for good reason.
For decades, keeping our clearing processes fragmented, manual, and dependent on desk-to-desk human interaction was the perfect business model for syndicates.
When cargo dwell times drag on for 21 days, those delays are money in the pockets of the gatekeepers and a death sentence for local businesses.
Let us look at the raw field realities. The push by the Nigeria Customs Service to aggressively crash clearance times down to global 48-hour standards is meeting fierce internal resistance.
Why? Because a unified digital ecosystem means you cannot easily manipulate documentation, hide illicit cargo, or demand “mobilization fees” before signing off a container.
The outcry and protests from certain freight-forwarding syndicates aren’t about technical glitches; they are about the sudden closure of invisible toll gates.
This is exactly why governance at our national gateways can no longer be left to the mercy of transactional bureaucratic habits.
Building deep-sea infrastructure like Lekki Port is a massive physical achievement, but concrete and cranes are useless if the administrative processes at the gate remain backward.
 Real structural reform requires turning our Ports into automated, friction-free pipelines that prioritize production over rent-seeking.
If Nigeria wants to survive this fiscal squeeze, the National Single Window cannot just be treated as another glossy IT project launched in Abuja.
 It requires unyielding administrative enforcement to completely dismantle the corrupt cartels managing the manual desk chains.
The invisible toll gates at our Ports must be completely demolished, and that exact same structural discipline must be scaled across our border stations and trade corridors.
The era of managing international trade with 20th-century paper trails is dying. The future belongs to the builders of automated, transparent systems.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst,  writes from Abuja 
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Headlines

NANTA Exco embarks on seven-day Ghana retreat, fam trip to deepen regional tourism partnership

Gloria Odion, Reporter

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has commenced a seven-day executive retreat and familiarisation (fam) trip to Ghana, hosted by Safari World, as part of efforts to strengthen regional tourism partnerships and expand cross-border travel opportunities.

The NANTA delegation was received at Safari World Homes in Accra by the Chairman of the Safari World Group, Mr. Ernest Gyekye, who expressed delight at hosting the Nigerian travel trade leaders.

He assured the delegation of a memorable experience throughout their week-long stay.

Speaking on the significance of the visit, NANTA President, Mr. Yinka Folami, described the retreat and familiarisation tour as a strategic initiative aimed at fostering stronger business relationships and promoting collaborative tourism development across Africa.

“This mission is not a leisure trip,” Folami said. “It is a deliberate step to implement and expand our association’s marketing advocacy for Nigerian brands across borders.”

He noted that Nigeria and Ghana share deep historical, cultural and commercial ties that should be leveraged to drive tourism growth on the continent.

“Nigeria and Ghana share history, culture, trade and people. The future of our tourism cannot be built in silos,” he said.

“This retreat is about moving from policy to practice—creating real products, real partnerships and real movement of travellers between Accra and Lagos.”

As part of the programme, the NANTA executives will engage in strategic business-to-business (B2B) meetings with their Ghanaian counterparts, tour key tourism destinations under the Safari World brand, and participate in cultural exchange activities designed to promote stronger bilateral tourism cooperation.

The itinerary spans Safari World’s three flagship destinations, including Safari Homes in Accra, the Aqua Safari riverfront experience, Safari Island Cruise, Safari Nautica, and Safari Recreation and Sports facilities in Ada, as well as the Safari Valley Eco Resort and Safari Eco Park in Dawu.

Operating under the brand promise, “One World, Three Destinations, Over 20 Unique Experiences,” Safari World is leveraging the visit to strengthen its footprint in the Nigerian travel market while positioning Ghana as a premier destination for leisure tourism, conferences, group travel, family holidays and premium tourism experiences.

A major highlight of the visit will be the Executive Dinner scheduled for July 21 at the Safari Valley Eco Resort, where key stakeholders from Nigeria and Ghana’s tourism industries will deliberate on strategies for deepening travel trade and advancing regional tourism development.

The familiarisation tour is expected to provide NANTA’s leadership with first-hand knowledge of Safari World’s tourism offerings, paving the way for the development of attractive travel packages and stronger business partnerships that will benefit Nigerian travellers and the wider West African tourism industry.

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Customs

Ogun Customs spurns claims of Smugglers’ takeover of Idiroko–Sango Ota trading Route

Funso OLOJO, Editor

The Ogun I Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has dismissed as false reports alleging that smugglers had taken over the Idiroko–Sango Ota trading route in Ogun State, describing the claims as a deliberate misrepresentation of a traffic incident.
In a statement issued by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Customs (SC) Chado, the Command clarified that the traffic gridlock on the route resulted from the breakdown of an articulated commercial trailer after it fell into a badly deteriorated section of Atan Road, temporarily obstructing the free flow of traffic.
According to the Command, the vehicles caught in the ensuing congestion were legitimate commercial trucks transporting red palm oil to various local markets and had no connection whatsoever with smuggling activities.
It explained that the large number of heavy-duty trucks trapped in the gridlock may have led some members of the public to wrongly conclude that smugglers had taken over the road.
“The reports that smugglers blocked the road are inaccurate. The disruption resulted from a road accident and poor road conditions. The vehicles involved were lawful commercial vehicles transporting red palm oil for legitimate trade,” Chado stated.
The Command urged journalists, social media users and the general public to verify information before disseminating reports capable of creating unnecessary panic or undermining public confidence in security agencies.
Observers within the border trade sector noted that the allegation does not reflect the prevailing security situation within the Ogun I Area Command, where anti-smuggling operations have been intensified under the leadership of the Acting Customs Area Controller, Comptroller O.O. Afeni.
Since assuming office, Comptroller Afeni has strengthened intelligence-driven surveillance, enhanced collaboration with other security agencies and host communities, and sustained pressure on economic saboteurs operating along the Ogun border corridors.
These measures, according to stakeholders, have resulted in significant seizures of prohibited goods and reinforced the Command’s resolve to safeguard Nigeria’s economy and territorial integrity.
Maritime and border trade stakeholders also cautioned against the spread of unverified information capable of undermining the efforts of security personnel or creating a false impression of lawlessness in border communities.
They stressed that while combating smuggling remains an ongoing responsibility, responsible and accurate reporting is equally critical to ensuring that operational achievements are not overshadowed by misinformation.
The Ogun I Area Command reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining its anti-smuggling campaign while facilitating legitimate cross-border trade in line with the statutory mandate of the Nigeria Customs Service.

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